Emishi's Christmas Party
by Me-Nuriko
Summary: Ban and Ginji celebrates Christmas. Fluffy, fluffy.


****

Emishi's Christmas Party

The snow was falling in Tokyo this December day. Inside the Honky Tonk Ban and Ginji were sitting at one of the tables. Ban was sulking. They hadn't had any job in quite a while now, and Paul had started to glare at them in almost the same manner Ban used to look at Shido. Ginji wasn't that much sulky because Natsumi had felt sorry for them and bought them a pizza. Which had made Paul mutter quite a lot, even if he didn't stop her. Food always made Ginji in a better mood so he was actually quite cheery, which really annoyed Ban.

"… then it wasn't much of a Christmas, and you know…"

"Oh, shut up! You've been blabbering about Christmas for 15 minutes now. What's the big deal? It's just a time for spending money on unnecessary things."

"But Ban-chan. It is Christmas soon and last year it was so great and I know you have at least some happy Christmas memories. So what are you so cranky about?"

"Dammit Ginji. I just don't feel like spending all Christmas in the Ladybug."

"Yeah, you're right, that isn't very fun." Ginji agreed. "But I'm sure that Madoka-chan would let us…"

"Never! I'm not gonna spend Christmas with Monkey Trainer. I'd rather sit freezing in the Ladybug!"

"You do that, Snake Bastard." Shido went through the door together with Emishi. "But I'm not gonna be at Madoka's at Christmas."

"Why not, Shido?" asked Ginji.

"Heh. Madoka's probably finally threw him out. I can't imagine how she could stand him this long."

"Shido?" Ginji asked again.

"Madoka is going to Europe for a charity concert tour."

"And you're not going? Why?"

Shido sighed inside. He already knew Midou's comment before he heard it.

"What would she do with a Monkey Trainer in Europe?" Ban smirked. "He would only make a fool of himself, and Madoka knows it."

Shido clenched his fist. What Midou said was true. He wouldn't fit in there with all those fancy people at the concerts and luxury hotels. That's why he had refused Madoka's plea that he should come with her. He knew she wanted him with her, and it hurt him that he wouldn't be celebrating Christmas with her, but he wasn't ready to join her world this much yet. And he also feared, that when Madoka 'saw' him so clumsy and awkward together with all the nobilities she was going to meet, she would choose to do what Midou had said and throw him out. Well, he should make it up to her when she returned. Now, how to answer Ginji's question without admitting to Midou he was right?

"Why would I? She doesn't need me in Europe, and I've got other plans."

"Damned true, she doesn't need you. That's what I said." Another of Midou's predictable comments.

"What other plans, Shido?"

Shido turned to Emishi who gave them a big, happy smile.

"He's gonna spend Christmas with me. I'm having a Christmas party for all my friends and I'm here to invite you, Ginji-han. It's going to be fun!"

"A Christmas party! Wow, that's a great idea! Thanks, Emishi, we're coming. Right Ban-chan?"

"I wasn't invited." Ban glared at Emishi. "Not that I'm very keen on spending Christmas with you guys anyway."

"No, I just heard you'd rather freeze in your car." Shido couldn't help smirking himself.

"Ban-chan... you'd go if you were invited, wouldn't you?" Ginji turned his big, brown eyes towards Ban. 

"Why would I want to?" Ban made an angry hiss. 

"But I want to go, only it's not fun if you're not coming too."

"You go. Why not?"

Ginji's puppy-dog eyes seemed bigger than usual as he looked at Ban. "Please Ban-chan. Won't you come?"

Ban couldn't say no to those eyes. He tried anyway.

"It's not an issue. I'm not invited." It didn't sound very convincing, and Ginji smiled and understood. Then he turned his eyes to Emishi.

"Emishi...You don't really want Ban-chan to stay in the car during Christmas, do you?"

Ban groaned. "Shut up, Ginji." 

But Ginji wasn't going to shut up. This was important to him. 

"You know I can't come to your party if Ban-chan isn't coming. Emishi...?" And Emishi wasn't more immune to those eyes than anyone else.

"Does he know how to have fun, then, huh... Alright, he can come."

"Ban-chan? Please..."

And having the choice between spending Christmas Day in the car - with a sad Ginji, who of course wouldn't say a word about it, or alone while Ginji was away - or together with Ginji and his partner's friends, Ban couldn't do much but nod. 

"Yeah, yeah." 

"Thanks Emishi!" Ginji was shining. "It's gonna be lots of fun."

***

The next day they got some luck. A woman wanted them to find her runaway dog, and the job turned out to be real simple and the woman real grateful so she paid them real good. This made Ban in such a good mood that he could think about the damned party without wanting to hit something. He had hit Ginji before the job, though, when he had tried to suggest that finding runaway animals was a job that should suit Shido really well.

On Christmas Eve they went to a restaurant to eat. The food was good enough, but Ginji was chattering about tomorrow's party at Emishi's and since Ban definitely wasn't looking forward to it; he tried to change the subject a few times but with no luck. Ban gave up and started drinking instead. Wine, sake and on their way back to the Ladybug, Ban, in spite of his more than unsteady legs, bought a couple of beers. Ginji looked at him with a concerned expression on his face.

"Ban-chan... Are you sure about this beer? You've been drinking quite a lot already. It would be better if you drank some water instead so you won't feel so lousy at the party tomorrow."

"What'ze diffrenshe... 'Ts more fun feeling loushy with alco'l than without." Ban had some difficulties making his tongue doing the right moves for the right sound to come out.

"No, it's not." Ginji was sincere. "And I don't want you to feel lousy for any reason, Ban-chan. If you really feel so bad about this party then we won't go."

"You're sho shtoopid. 'Coshe we go."

"We'll talk about it tomorrow. Give me those beers."

"They're mine!" 

Ginji sighed. "I know. I just want to carry them for you, so you don't drop them someplace. You wouldn't want that, would you, Ban-chan?"

Ban considered that. After a moment he gave the beers to Ginji who put them in his pockets. They started walking again. Ginji tried to put Ban's arm around his own shoulders to support him, but Ban pushed him away.

"I'm not that drunk."

"Yes, you are." Ginji said but he didn't insist. He just walked close to Ban so he could grab him if he stumbled.

When they reached the car Ban had, as Ginji had hoped, forgotten all about the beers. Ginji helped him to lay down at the back seat, found one of the blankets and covered Ban with it. 

"I hope you won't throw up in the car, Ban-chan. You'll be really mad at yourself if you do, you know."

"Don't worry. I won't." Ban muttered and curled himself under the blanket. 

Ginji went to sit in the front seat. He took the other blanket and wrapped it around him. Then he reached for the small car heater and started to gather some of his power to make the heater warm up. Ginji smiled to himself. He remembered how happy Ban had been, even if he tried not to show it, the last winter when Ginji first had done that. This way the car's battery wouldn't fail so easily and the car was endurable even during the winter. He heard Ban starting to snore in the back seat. Ban always snored when he was drunk. 

Tomorrow was December 25. Tomorrow they would go to Emishi's party. If Ban didn't seem to dislike it too much. But Ginji knew that Ban would insist on going however he felt, because Ban knew that Ginji wanted them to go, and he had given him his promise. Maybe even Ban could have a good time.

****

When Ban woke up next morning it was to a throbbing head, and he groaned loudly before he was fully awake. That, of course, made Ginji lean over from the front seat looking concerned. 

"How're you feeling, Ban-chan?"

"How the hell do you think I feel?" Ban felt edgy. 

"Here, I was over at the Honky Tonk and I brought you some coffee." Ginji handed him a thermos.

"Did you pay for it?"

"Yeah, here's your purse."

Ban took it and then drank the coffee and also water from the flask Ginji gave him. His head started to feel better but something else urged him out of the car.

"Gotta pee", he muttered to Ginji.

When he came back Ginji was standing outside the car.

"Feeling better, Ban-chan?"

"I'm fine."

"Good. Can we go to the bath house now?"

"If you want to."

They walked their way to the bath house. Shinjuku was glittering with all sorts of lights. There were yellow lights, red lights, green lights, blue lights. The lights were attached to artificial stars, flowers, people, dolls, cars, animals including a big dinosaur in front of a mall. Ginji glittered himself when he looked at all the lights and shop windows and people rushing by. 

"Isn't Christmas great, Ban-chan?"

"You think this is great? I've already told you some of it from when I was younger, but I wish I could show you the Christmas celebration in Europe. Maybe I should have asked Madoka to take you with her."

"I want to see Christmas in Europe, but I want to see it with you, Ban-chan. How is it different from here?"

Ban started to tell him about the Christmas traditions in Europe, but memories of Christmas with his grandmother in Germany flew through his mind and he fell silent.

"Ban-chan?"

"Eh. I tell you about it later. There's the bath house."

---

After they finished their bath, Ban looked at Ginji. 

"Anything particular you wanna do before we get to that damned party."

"There's one thing we must do first, Ban-chan."

"What?"

"We must buy Emishi a Christmas present."

"Hell, no. Why would I buy him a present? He didn't even invite me, remember?"

"But, Ban-chan. He's my friend, and he said there would be a lot of food so that means we don't have to buy food today, right?" Ginji giggled. "I'm sure that if you behave yourself, Ban-chan, I can convince him to let you eat too."

"Moron. Fine, buy him a stupid present then. But you'll buy it, not me. And make sure it's cheaper than what our meals today would cost."

Ban took out his purse and handed Ginji a few bills. "Not more than this. Where do you wanna go?"

"Where do you think?" Ginji said with a smile and started his way over to a joke shop. 

Ban waited outside while Ginji made his shopping. Ginji wasn't use to take care of these things, but it wasn't like he didn't know how to buy something in a store. After almost half an hour, when Ban had smoked three cigarettes to try to ignore the cold, Ginji came out of the store smiling, with a little package wrapped in green paper and a red ribbon around it.

"You wanna see it, Ban-chan?"

"No. But..." He just remembered something. "... I would like my beers."

"Your beers?"

"You damn fool, you didn't think I had forgotten them, did you?"

Ginji put away his package and reluctantly took up the beers.

"Why do you want them now?"

"Hey, what's the big deal. It's only a couple of beers. I'm thirsty, okay? Hand them over."

Ginji handed the two beer cans to Ban, who opened one and swiftly drank it. "Aaaah, that's better." He opened the other one and drank it too. Ginji just looked at him. Two beers wouldn't make Ban drunk, he knew that, but he still suspected that Ban was doing this to make it easier for him to go the party.

"Ban-chan? It's not to late to change your mind. I told you yesterday if you remember, if you really don't want to go we won't do it."

"Don't be silly. Come on, let's go."

---

When they arrived at the outskirts of Mugenjou it started to snow again. Ginji raised his head up to the sky and let the snow fall on his face.

"I like snow, Ban-chan. I wish I could go somewhere with a lot of snow every day in the winter, so I could ski and skate and all those things."

"You fool. You can't ski or skate."

"You could teach me, couldn't you Ban-chan?" 

"I guess. If you're not too clumsy. And, talking about your shortcomings, you're sure you can find your way to Emishi's, so we won't get lost on our way there?"

"Ban-chan. His place is near the place where I lived, and around there I have no problems." 

Ban saw Ginji's face blush just a little. Ginji was somewhat embarrassed about his bad sense of directions. 

"Okay then, let's go." 

Ginji led the way in to Mugenjou, and true enough he had no problems finding Emishi's place. Even though Ban thought that he could have found the place himself, because when they came closer they could see lamps and lights that Emishi'd been decorating the street outside with. 

Ginji laughed. "I wish Mugenjou had looked like this when I lived here. Makubex has really managed to make it better here now. Not even Emishi did celebrate Christmas here before. He did celebrate other crazy things though," he added like an afterthought.

Ban could see that Ginji was in a terrific mood. Of course he was. He was going to spend the day with friends he loved and shared a lot of memories with, and even if most of the memories weren't happy ones, they had still made them very close. Ban on the other hand, was going to spend the day with people that barely tolerated him. He wasn't even invited properly. It wasn't strange he didn't feel very welcome. Ban sighed. Ginji looked at him. Dammit, that sigh wasn't meant to be overheard. 

"You're okay, Ban-chan?"

"Of course I am. This is going to be fun." That sounded hollow, but he must try not to destroy the good time for Ginji. And to show his friend he didn't mind going to this party at all, he was the one who knocked on the door.

"Ginji-han!" Emishi swept the door open and jumped Ginji with a hug. Ban's eyes narrowed.

"Come in!" Emishi dragged Ginji through the door and Ban slowly followed.

Inside there were already quite a lot of people and Ban brightened some when he saw some realyl cute girls standing there watching them arrive. From where he stood he could also see the Monkey Trainer and the Thread Spool and his Needle. But, and Ban got a bad feeling, they were all wearing silly hats. And now Emishi led them into the bigger room and took something from Kazuki.

"Our emperor has arrived!" Emishi proclaimed and put a crown on Ginji's head, took a step back and made a deep bow looking all serious. All the others in the room bowed too, but with big smiles, and Ginji laughed. "How come you never bowed to me like this before?" 

"You like it, heh?" Emishi laughed. "I wanted to greet Mugenjou's former emperor in a proper way. And…" He reached for a shelf and took a red hood with a white brim, like the one the American Santa was wearing, and gave it to Ginji, smiling like it was a big joke.

"Here, you put it on him." Emishi pointed at Ban. Ban felt anger rushing over him.

"Bloody shit! If you think…" He felt Ginji's hand on his arm.

"Ban-chan… It's just for fun. Everyone is wearing hats." And again those big, brown eyes were looking at him filled with stars and smiles and everything that made Ban happy.

"What the hell, alright." He let Ginji put the hood on his head, thoroughly avoiding looking at anyone else. Damned those eyes of Ginji's. And they said Ban was the one with powerful eyes? 

"Don't look so mad. I think you look cute in it." Ban turned to the voice. One of the pretty girls was standing next to him, smiling. "I'm Suzuki Michiko."

"Midou Ban." Ban smiled at her.

"Yes, I know. I've heard about you."

Ban darkened a little but tried to continue smiling. "So, what did you hear?"

Michiko laughed. "A lot of things, you sound like a really interesting guy."

Ban started at her choice of words. She wasn't one of those who wanted him dead, he hoped? But the girl smiled friendly at him, took him by the arm and led him to the table that was filled with food of all kinds.

Ginji looked after them. He hoped the girl could make Ban feel better. Ginji didn't recognize her, but he thought she was one of those girls who always was hanging around Emishi.

"Eh, Ginji-han." Emishi came to talk to him. "I really don't care about Midou, but I know you do. So I thought I should tell you that Michiko is a flirt, she likes to fool around with boys she never has met before. She's teasing them and then she'll dump them quickly if she finds someone more interesting." 

Ginji smiled at Emishi. "Let's hope she doesn't find someone more interesting then. I'm not gonna go tell Ban-chan to leave that girl alone. He looks so satisfied right now."

"Me neither. Just thought I should pass on the warning." Emishi left with a grin.

"Ginji-san! Cheers!" Kazuki and Juubei were standing there, Juubei with his arm around Kazuki's shoulders. Kazuki handed him a cup filled with sake and Ginji took it. 

"Cheers! Kazu-chan, Juubei."

They drank the hot sake and Ginji felt the heat rush through his body. He smiled at his friends. 

"Isn't Toshiki with you?"

"I'm right here." Toshiki came up to Kazuki's other side, on his way giving Juubei quite a hard push, maybe unintentional because neither of them seemed to care. Only Kazuki frowned a little but didn't say anything.

Ginji took his cup and went to the table. He was hungry and the food looked delicious. He filled a plate and went to sit down at Emishi's couch. Shido sat there too, talking and laughing together with Sakura and Makubex, and soon Ginji had joined them. He felt so joyous, sitting here with his friends, eating tasty stuff, drinking sake, Emishi on the floor making more or less bad jokes with one girl at each arm, and… nobody trying to fight him. Ginji looked for Ban and saw him sitting on the floor by the wall with that girl, Michiko. It looked like he was enjoying himself, and Ginji smiled, even though he could see that Ban definitely had had more to drink than those two beers.

Suddenly a knock on the door was heard over the noise. 

"You expecting someone else, Emishi-san?" Makubex asked.

"No, everyone is here." Emishi went to the door and opened it. If he could he would have slammed it shut again. Only, a hand with a white glove wouldn't let him.

"So, so Emishi-kun," a soothing voice was heard and everyone on the party who knew that voice fell silent. "I heard you had a little party and that Midou-kun and Ginji-kun was here. I'm only here to give them a little Christmas present and to wish you all a merry Christmas."

Akabane went through the door, passed an astounded Emishi and found Ginji on the couch.

"There you are, Ginji-kun. Where is your partner?"

"What the hell are you doing here?" Ban stood beside him, a little wobbly but with a fierce look, the girl even wobblier, still by his arm. 

"As I told Emishi-kun, I wanted to bring you two a present." He handed Ginji a small package with a Christmas card attached to it. "It's just a small memento of our meetings, so you can remember me and look forward to the next time we'll see each other on a battleground."

Ginji, who still hadn't said a word, read the card. It read: 'Merry Christmas Ban and Ginji. With best wishes, Kurodo'. He gave the card to Ban who read it with a blank face, opened the little box with shaky hands and picked up two scalpels tied to each end of a two decimeters long, narrow, light blue ribbon.

"It's one for each of you. If you look at the ribbon you'll see a small dot at one end. The one at that side is the scalpel I stabbed in Ginji-kun's chest on our first meeting." Akabane said. "I have been wondering if I should save it to kill you with, Ginji-kun, but then I thought you might like it, and I have so many others."

Ban tried hard to find something to say, but it seemed like with the sake inside him and the girl by his arm he just couldn't think. Ginji who saw there wasn't much help from him, managed to say: "Tha.. thank you, A.. akabane-san." Ve.. ry thoughtful."

Akabane looked pleased. "Yes, I thought you would like it. And now…" He took a step back and put his hand inside his coat. Emishi gasped, Juubei and Toshiki both took a step forward in front of Kazuki who looked a little annoyed, Ginji and Shido quickly raised from the couch and Ban released himself from the girl and shoved her behind him. Everybody prepared for the fight.

Akabane presented a little tape-recorder, put it on the table, pushed the button, took his hat off and when the music started, in perfect English he began to sing: " Oh, come all ye faithful…"

When the song was finished he made a small bow, smiled and said: "I wish you all a Merry Christmas." Then he turned and went to the door. There he turned again.

"I'm looking forward to our next meeting, GetBackers." And off he was.

Everybody stared at each other. 

"He was gorgeous! And he sang so well! Who was he?" Michiko returned to Ban's arm, but she was staring at the door looking longily after Akabane. "A friend of yours? Why wasn't he invited? Will he come back?" 

"You see, Michiko, he isn't _my_ friend. He's Ginji-han and Midou's friend." Emishi tried to make some kind of explanation to Michiko.

"Yeah, right." Ban said sarcastically. He didn't want to scare the girl though, so he didn't oppose Emishi's words. "He was busy today so he couldn't stay, you see."

"Oh." Michiko looked a little disappointed. "That's too bad. But maybe you can introduce us sometime?"

Ban looked at her. Did she mean that she preferred an insane assassin before him, the invincible Midou Ban-sama? "We'll see." Ban could definitely not make any promises for that request.

Michiko looked appraisingly at him, clearly comparing him to Akabane. Obviously she found that Ban won that competition, because she smiled and laid her arms around his neck.

"That's all right. I've got you, right? You're gorgeous too!" 

Ban smiled and they went back to their sitting spot.

Emishi now brought the Christmas cake to the table and Ginji went to have some. He was still a little shaken by the visit of Akabane, but Ginji loved sweets and the cake looked delicious. It had whipped cream and strawberries on top and Emishi cut him a big piece. 

"Thanks, Emishi. By the way, I bought you a Christmas present." He gave Emishi the green package and Emishi opened it. It was a drinking glass with a picture of a beautiful girl on the outside. 

Emishi laughed. "That girl looks like Kazuki."

"I know." Ginji smiled. "Pour something hot in it."

Emishi did so, and the girl on the glass suddenly was naked. 

Emishi laughed even more. "So, this is what Kazuki would look like if he really was a girl. Hey, Toshiki look at this."

He went to show the glass to Toshiki who sat drinking from his cup, near Ban and Michiko. Toshiki took the glass, looked at it and snorted. 

"Kazuki is much more beautiful." 

Emishi laughed again. "You're drunk, Toshiki. I can tell by two reasons. One, Kazuki may be pretty, but he's not a girl, so he can't be more beautiful, and, two, if you were sober you wouldn't tell me you think Kazuki is beautiful."

Ban managed to rise and tried to focus on the girl on the glass.

"Yeah. Dat's how I imagined 'im. He'scho priddy, Kaschki."

"Kazuki isn't a girl, you know." Toshiki turned to Emishi. "And you call me drunk!"

Kazuki came to look at the glass. He laughed softly. 

"Yeah. I guess that could be me, had I been a girl."

Juubei had placed himself beside Toshiki.

"Did you say Kazuki is pretty, Uryuu?"

Toshiki looked impudent at him. "Well, I said he is beautiful, but that's pretty much the same, isn't it? Why?"

"You have no right to call him that!"

"It wasn't like I was insulting him or something. Besides why do you care?"

"You abandoned him, when he joined Volts. You have no right to talk so big about Kazuki! You've been his enemy!"

"Look who's talking. Who was it who tried to kill him first? You or me? And from behind!"

Ginji put his hand on Kazuki's shoulder. "Are you not gonna stop them?"

Kazuki sighed. 

"No. They've been longing for this for quite a while now. Toshiki is always hotheaded, and Juubei have had too much to drink, so this had to happen. I guess it's best they clear it up so they can get it out of their systems. But maybe you could help me take them outside. They'd better fight there."

"But aren't you afraid they're gonna kill each other?"

Kazuki smiled. "No, they won't do that. They really like each other, it's just that they don't always remember it, so they need to blow out some steam, that's all."

Ginji and Shido both helped Kazuki pushing Toshiki and Juubei outside and closed the door behind them. 

They turned and get their eyes on Ban who at that exact moment got a big box on his ear by Michiko. She looked furious and stared with a hard look at Ginji.

"He's your friend, right? Put a leash on him or something. Or better yet lock him up somewhere." She strided off.

"Ban-chan! What happened?"

Shido smirked.

"I guess the Snake Bastard couldn't keep his fingers from where they weren't wanted, heh. I can't say a blame the girl, if I were a girl I wouldn't want a snake all over me."

"But as a monkey you can get a taste o'my fists!" Ban's temper raised. "And that's all you've ever gonna taste, cause no girl wants to make out with a monkey." 

"Ban-chan. Shido is living with Madoka, remember?"

"Heh. That girl must be blind not only with her eyes. She'll soon come to her senses and throw him with the other trashes. Oh, I'm sorry, it's the Monkey Trainer who takes out the garbage, isn't it?" He tried to imitate Madoka's voice. 'Monkey-san, can you take out the trash, and while you're at it, why don't you throw yourself there too?' And that monkey would probably do it, because if anyone's in a leash, it's him!"

Shido took a step towards Ban with clenched fists.

"Don't you dare insult Madoka, Snake Bastard."

"I wasn't insulting her, I was insulting you, but you're just too stupid to get it."

"You're trying to change the subject, Snake Bastard, you're the one that got slapped, not me. You should stay away from the girls. "

"You're just jealous. Go find a female monkey in the woods, you bloody ape."

Shido's right fist, shot forward, but before it reached Ban's jaw, Ban's left hand caught it in a tight grip."

"Too slow, Monkey Boy." Ban smirked, and he in his turn punched Shido in the stomach.

Shido bent over, but before he could catch his breath and throw himself over that Snake Bastard, he was caught by some of Kazuki's threads. At the same time Ginji put himself between Shido and Ban.

"Stop it, you're both drunk." Kazuki tried to calm them.

"I stop if he apologize. Let go of me Kazuki." Shido struggled to be free.

"I, apologize! I can't help you're being a monkey!"

"Ban-chan, calm down. He's not your enemy, you know. Kazu-chan's right. You're drunk. Come with me, I'll give you something to eat." Ginji managed to get Ban a few steps away from the struggling Shido.

Kazuki let go of Shido, who glared at Ban but stood still. 

Michiko approached him. 

"You're Shido-san, right?"

Shido grunted an approval.

"And you don't like that jerk over there?" She pointed at Ban who glared at her.

"Did you think it looked like he's my best friend?" Shido answered a little angrily.

"No." Michiko smiled sweetly. "I bet you are a much better kisser than him." And suddenly she was standing very close to Shido, holding her arms around his neck in a tight grip, and kissed him passionately. Shido was so surprised, he first didn't do anything at all. He just stood there, letting the girl kiss him.

"Two-timer. What do you think Madoka will think about this." Ban stared at Shido.

Those words made Shido start thinking again and he struggled to come loose. 

"What's the matter, Shido-kun? Don't you like my kisses?" Michiko looked at Shido with innocent eyes.

"Yes… I mean, no…! I mean, I've already got a girlfriend!" Shido tried to clear his head, looking abashed.

"So you finally admits, Madoka's your girlfriend?" Ban smirked. "Stop kissing other girls then, Monkey Trainer."

"Ban-chan. She kissed him, not the other way around. Come, I told you I would get you something to eat." 

Ginji managed to lead Ban to the couch and helped him sit down. 

"Please, Ban-chan, sit here while I get you some food." Ginji pleaded. "What do you want?"

"I need more sake."

Ginji sighed. "I'll get you some food instead, wait here."

Ginji left for the table and filled a plate with some of Ban's favorite dishes. But when he returned to the couch, Ban had fallen asleep. Ginji guessed that was a good thing, so he put the plate down and went to talk to Shido instead.

"Shido. I'm sorry about Ban-chan. He's just drunk, he doesn't mean half of what he says."

Shido grunted something inaudible. 

"But it was you who started it this time, Shido. I don't blame you, I know Ban-chan starts your arguments most of the time." Ginji looked seriously at Shido. "I want to ask you a favor, Shido."

"What?" Shido asked. He knew already it would be difficult to refuse a favor Ginji was asking him. Shido still saw Volt's former leader, whenever he looked at Ginji. That leader wasn't someone you easily ignored.

"Don't say anything about this to Ban-chan. He probably won't remember anything tomorrow and it would only make him feel bad."

"Bad! Nothing can make that snake feel bad. He's too self absorbed."

"He just doesn't show it. You know, I think you two could be good friends if you only could give the other one a chance. You have a lot in common."

Shido snorted.

"That's what you say. But alright, Ginji. I won't mention it. And…" He hesitated. "Maybe it's not necessary to mention to Madoka what that girl…?"

Ginji smiled one of his brightest smile at Shido. "We won't say anything. It wasn't your fault, you know. Thanks, Shido. You're a real friend." 

Shido snorted again, but felt strangely satisfied by Ginji's smile and words.

The door opened and Toshiki and Juubei stood there. Both were full of bruises, and their clothes and hair were in disorder, but they looked happy, standing with their arms around each other's shoulders.

"See, I told you." Kazuki was beside Ginji. 

Toshiki and Juubei went straight ahead to Kazuki. 

"Sorry, I tried to kill you, Kazuki." Juubei's drunken voice sounded a little whining. 

"Me, too." Toshiki was eager for forgiveness, too. "And for fighting Juubei now."

"Yes. Uryuu is a nice guy. He'll help me protect you, Kazuki."

Kazuki actually looked a little taken aback. 

"Eh… I've already told you to forget about you trying to kill me. And when it comes to protection, why don't we all help each other?"

"I live my life to protect you, Kazuki, you know that."

"Yes, Juubei, I know. But right now, I think you two need some sleep. We can talk tomorrow if you like. Emishi, thanks, I think I'd better help those two home. See you." 

Toshiki and Juubei stumbled on drunken legs out through the door, and Kazuki nodding to Ginji and the others, followed.

I guess we'll be going, too", Ginji told Emishi and pointed at Ban who snored on the couch. "I've got someone to take home, too."

"To the car, you mean Ginji-han." Emishi said. "You can let him sleep there on the couch, and I'll get you a futon so you can stay for the night in case he doesn't wake up until next morning."

"Thanks, Emishi."

At that moment Ban woke up and stumbled to them.

"Let's go home, Ginji."

"We can stay the night if you want, Ban-chan. Emishi said so."

Before Ban could answer, Michiko was standing there in front of them, again. 

"Are you leaving already?"

"You want us to stay?" Ban asked hopefully. That girl _was_ cute.

"I wasn't talking to you, jerk! I was talking to Raitei!" She smiled at Ginji. "I've never kissed an emperor before."

And just as Shido, Ginji found himself embraced by Michiko's arms with her lips against his. Ginji didn't have to struggle to get loose, though. Ban did it for him. 

"Let go of him, you bitch!" Ban ripped them apart. 

"Ban-chan, I can handle this myself."

Ban glared at him, but Michiko laughed. 

"Now I've kissed an emperor. You're pretty good, you know, better than him!" She pointed at Ban. "Well, maybe I'll see you around." She strode off.

"He's only a former emperor, you know!" Ban called angrily after her.

"Come on, Ginji. It's time to go."

Ginji smiled at Emishi. "Thanks for the offer, but it seems like we're going after all. Thanks for inviting us to the party, I had a good time."

Emsishi followed them to the door. Laughing as if it was a big joke he said:

"Next year, you'll have the Christmas party, in the Ladybug!"

owari


End file.
